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Brooks Koepka's Complicated Victory, Ball Rollback Concerns and Cam Smith Finds His Form

Koepka was a deserving PGA champion, but that doesn't make things easy for captain Zach Johnson and the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Plus more in this week's Weekly Read.
Jeff Ritter|
Brooks Koepka's Complicated Victory, Ball Rollback Concerns and Cam Smith Finds His Form
Brooks Koepka's Complicated Victory, Ball Rollback Concerns and Cam Smith Finds His Form

Brooks Koepka is a major champion for the fifth time in his career, and because of his status as a LIV Golf player, his win at the PGA last Sunday carries far more complicated ramifications for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, and its captain Zach Johnson. 

Koepka's U.S. Ryder Cup Team Future

Captain Zach said last weekend that if Koepka, currently second in the U.S. team qualification standings, remained in the top 6 at season’s end he’d be on the team. But what happens if Koepka is just outside the auto-qualification zone but still playing well? Bob Harig takes a look.

Golf Ball Rollback Is the Game's Other Divisive Issue

The news of the USGA and R&A’s proposed golf ball rollback sent shock waves across men’s pro golf. It even created some agreement between the PGA Tour and LIV Tour, which has not been easy to do. But last weekend at the PGA Championship, the PGA of America gave no indication that it would—or would not—follow the rollback if it indeed goes into effect in 2026. Divisive times in golf, indeed.

Cam Smith Might Be a Thing Again Soon

Cam Smith was one of the top players in golf in 2022, but since jumping to LIV Golf he has not played like a world-beater and admits as much himself. Don’t look now, but after taking some time to enjoy the fruits of his success, Smith recently lost a LIV event in sudden death and cracked the top 10 at the PGA Championship.

Get Ready for the Colonial and LIV D.C.

In Bob Harig’s latest Fore! Things, he takes a closer look at Brooks Koepka behind the numbers as well as this week’s PGA Tour event at Colonial and LIV Golf stop in Washington D.C. No rest for a weary golfer (or golf writer).

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Jeff Ritter
JEFF RITTER

Jeff Ritter is the managing director of SI Golf. He has more than 20 years of sports media experience, and previously was the general manager at the Morning Read, where he led that business’s growth and joined SI as part of an acquisition in 2022. Earlier in his career he spent more than a decade at SI and Golf Magazine, and his journalism awards include a MIN Magazine Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award for sports reporting. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

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